Wang Hai, former commander of the Air Force, recalled that in the Korean War, he said, "The air battle to resist US aggression and aid Korea was mainly fought by the Soviet Air Force, and later large-scale aircraft group operations, especially the US F86 large aircraft group operations, were still dominated by the Soviet Air Force"; this sentence objectively affirmed the contribution of the Soviet Air Force in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
During the entire War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Soviet Air Force dispatched a total of 12 air divisions, engaged the US military 1,872 times, and shot down 1,097 US aircraft, which can be said to have made great contributions to the ground operations of the Chinese and Korean troops.
Of course, the Soviet Air Force's participation in the war was not achieved overnight, but experienced a process of twists and turns, the reasons for which are detailed, both the study and judgment of the international situation, and the consideration of its own strength, many factors are intertwined, it can be said that it is foggy, so what are the key factors that ultimately contributed to Stalin's invasion of Korea? Let's go through the fog to relive history.
Soviet troops secretly entered the war Stalin did hesitate
In fact, soon after the Korean War, that is, after the landing of the US army in Inchon, Stalin had begun to consider the possibility of the Soviet Union directly sending troops, but at that time Stalin believed that if the Soviet Union directly sent troops, it was possible to trigger World War III, and the Soviet Union had just lost and participated in the war in World War II, and the US military not only did not hurt its bones in World War II, but also gained a lot of benefits.
Therefore, both China and the Soviet Union are considering the possibility of China sending troops to fight, but this faces a new problem, how can the Chinese army, which has almost zero air force strength, arm the US army to the teeth, and how to fight this battle? Therefore, when China decided to send troops to Korea, it added a prerequisite, that is, the Soviet Air Force must cover the ground operations of the Chinese army, but the Soviet Union appeared to be hesitant on this key issue, although in August and September 1950, in just two months, Stalin had stationed a jet fighter air division in northeast China, and handed over a Soviet air force division that was already in Shanghai to China, although these measures effectively improved the air defense force of northeast China as a large rear. However, on the issue of the Soviet Air Force's direct entry into Korea, Stalin has always been ambiguous.
It should be said that Stalin's hesitation at the beginning stage is also reasonable, because at that time, if there was a frontal conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, it would be World War III, when the main battlefield of the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union was in Europe, and the Soviet Union did not know how much the United States had in Europe, plus other military forces in the Western camp, the Soviets considered themselves not dominant in Europe, and the Soviet Union's military strength in the Siberian direction was not strong, if the United States and the Soviet Union had a frontal conflict in the Far East battlefield, it was bound to need to draw troops from the European direction, Because from a military point of view, if the air force is directly sent to fight in Korea, it cannot be just one or two divisions of troops, if it cannot form a strength advantage, it is equivalent to using the US military as a live target, and large-scale military mobilization, not only will empty Europe's defense forces, causing the overall strategic imbalance of the Soviet Union, but also the process of mobilization is very easy to produce loopholes, giving the US military an opportunity, at this time, if the two camps clash in the European direction, it is bound to be unfavorable to the Soviet Union.
But Stalin was, after all, an internationalist with a big picture, and he believed that China and North Korea were interdependent, and the Soviet Union and North Korea were also interdependent. For the Soviet Union, if Korea dies, there is also a problem of death for the Soviet Union, so Stalin cannot see death and not save it, and there are two main reasons for hesitation, one is how should the Soviet Air Force enter Korea, is it in the superficial civilian form of "volunteers" like China, or in a secret form? On the other hand, Stalin had to consider adjusting military defense in the European direction, how much additional forces and how long it would take to mobilize the Air Force to fill any possible loopholes, so from today's point of view, Stalin's hesitation in a short period of time is understandable.
On 8 October, two US F80 fighters invaded the airspace of the Soviet Primorsky to fly at low altitude and fired machine-gun fire at a Soviet military airfield 100 kilometers from the border in the Suaha River area. This incident could not but attract Stalin's attention, because this provocation by the United States was clearly a warning to the Soviet Union.
Not long after the volunteers entered the DPRK, they received support from the Soviet Air Force
On 11 October 1950, Stalin said in a telegram to the Chinese side: "The Soviet Union can fully satisfy the aircraft, tanks, artillery, and other equipment proposed by China, but the Soviet Air Force is not yet ready, and it will not be able to dispatch the air force until two or two and a half months later."
However, despite this, the Chinese side still believes that the Soviet Union will send an air force to support the volunteers in two months, and even enter North Korean airspace to directly cooperate with the volunteers. With such a unified understanding, the Chinese army decided to send troops to Korea in the absence of the Soviet Air Force in the early stage, and it is said that Stalin shed tears of emotion when he learned of China's decision.
Soon the Chinese army officially entered the Korean War, and on October 25, the first victory was achieved, forcing the US army to stop the northward advance, Stalin was very happy to learn the news, and at this time, Soviet intelligence officers also obtained an important piece of information: after the outbreak of the Korean War, the US Air Force had transferred part of it to fight on the Korean Peninsula, and there were only 150 combat aircraft left in Europe, with less than one division. Although the allies of the United States also had a large number of air force fighters, their performance was lagging behind that of the new Soviet aircraft, so Stalin concluded that if the United States and its Western allies wanted to fight a large-scale war with the Soviet Union in the European direction, air force could not work, and without three years of preparation, they did not dare to act rashly.
Therefore, on the premise of ensuring the safety of Soviet airspace, the Soviet Union could not sit idly by while the United States expanded its power in the Far East, and if Korea perished, the Sea of Japan would be controlled by the United States, the Soviet Union's ice-free port of Vladivostok would be blocked, and the Soviet fleet's fleet in the Pacific Ocean would be useless. If Korea is destroyed, the Soviet Union will be attacked by the Western camp headed by the United States from both Europe and Asia, and the Soviet Union will be in an extremely passive situation strategically.
In order to prevent the identity from being exposed, the Soviet army formulated a number of secrecy measures, such as painting Soviet aircraft with the "August 1" mark of the Chinese army; Pilots wear Chinese Air Force uniforms; Pilots are prohibited from fighting in U.S.-controlled areas and at sea, because once they make a forced landing, they are very likely to be captured by U.S. forces; pilots cannot speak Russian on the radio; The USSR Air Force did not take off at Soviet airfields, only at airfields in northeastern China, etc.
Soon, an institution called the Sino-Korean Air Force Joint Command was established, in which the Soviet Air Force was actually responsible for combat missions, and in November 1950, in just one month, Stalin sent 13 air divisions into northeast China to carry out air and air missions, and at the same time chose the opportunity to enter Korean airspace to directly support the ground forces of the volunteers. In January 1951, as the front of the Chinese Volunteers and the Korean People's Army advanced southward, Stalin ordered two Soviet air divisions to enter Korea directly to cover the communication line of more than 100 kilometers north of the Cheongchon River of the volunteers.
The Soviet Air Force created air power for the volunteers
In addition to supporting the volunteer army on the battlefield, Stalin also relied on the volunteer army establishment to help China build its own air force, there is also a small story here, saying that when the two countries negotiated the purchase of fighters, the Soviet side only agreed to sell MiG-84 fighters that were slightly inferior to the American F-9 fighters to China, although the Chinese side was not satisfied, but did not raise objections in person, but changed hands and gave these fighters to North Korea for free, and Stalin's face could not be hung up, The volunteers were immediately provided with 372 MiG-84 fighters with better performance than the American F-15 fighters, and they were given free of charge. At that time, the Soviet Union had fewer than 500 aircraft.
Interestingly, the Americans have never broken this layer of window paper when they know it, and the United States is also forced to do so by reality: At that time, the United States was not prepared to fight a full-scale war with the Soviet Union, and it also tried its best to avoid a frontal military conflict with the Soviet Union.
By the end of the Korean War, the Soviet Union had provided China with equipment for 64 army divisions and 22 air divisions, of which 20 were given to China free of charge by a special decision made by Stalin himself.
The participation of the Soviet Air Force in the war gave the volunteers of ground combat like a tiger, and of course, the Soviet Air Force also paid great sacrifices. During the entire War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Soviet Union lost a total of 335 fighters and 200 pilots; after the end of the war, the bodies of the fallen Soviet Air Force officers and men were all buried in the Martyrs' Cemetery of the Soviet Army in Lushun, China, until today.